Whatever you do, you’ll never be able to fully avoid many excessively long hikes. Towns are spaced out to where traveling between them can take at least twenty minutes, and it won’t be time spent eventfully. The awful map is merely a web of noodly paths that respawn enemies and traps in the same place every time you’re backtracking through them which you’ll spend 75% of your playtime doing.
Oh, and because this game can’t hate its audience enough, Dragon’s Dogma decided stamina should drain out of combat, and should do quickly, which means you can’t even keep sprinting.
I’ve been playing Rise of Ronin at the same time as this, and the difference is night and day.
Not only does Ronin have free fast travel, but its warp points are liberally and conveniently placed. On top of that, you get a horse, a glider, a grappling hook, and infinite stamina when exploring. I once found myself hesitant to pick up a crafting material, then remembered I wasn’t playing Dragon’s Dogma 2 where you can become too heavy if you pick up enough feathers. Then I laughed, laughed, laughed.
Rise of Ronin was developed with the thought that people playing it shouldn’t have their time treated as valueless. Every part of Dragon’s Dogma 2 seems to be designed with a very different thought in mind:
"Fuck you."